"I HAVE heard them say in the village, that you preach that we don't need to pray for salvation." The speaker was a young lady, who had remained behind after a Gospel address, to be spoken to personally about her soul's salvation. Earnest and sincere she was, for whilst her language indicated surprise and astonishment at such preaching, her manner was one of deep anxiety. Tears were freely coursing their way down her cheeks.
I replied, " You see this Bible in my hand. It was given to me by a dear friend. It is a valuable book. Probably it was the most expensive he could buy. Supposing, when he offered it to me as a free gift, I fell upon my knees, and earnestly prayed him to give it to me, in language like this: Oh! Mr. So-and-So, do give me that Bible; I know it is far too good for me, and I am not worthy of it; but do give it to me, and I will try to merit it! '
" And when again he pressed upon me the gift, suppose I burst into tears, and still more earnestly pleaded for the Bible, what would you think of such strange conduct as that? "
The young lady replied, " I would think you were mad; or that you were insulting him."
" Exactly," I replied, " and that is the way many people are doing with God, when they earnestly pray month after month for salvation. They don't mean to insult God, but nevertheless that is what they are doing. ‘THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE,’ ‘WITHOUT MONEY AND WITHOUT PRICE,’ are the Gospel terms."
In words something like these, we talked her difficulty over, and the result was, thank God, that her eyes were opened, and she accepted salvation as a free gift from the hand of God that very evening.